The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Mats Eriksson

Mats Eriksson

Professor

Mats Eriksson

Jaw-bearing polychaetes of the Silurian Eramosa Lagerstatte, Ontario, Canada

Author

  • Mats Eriksson
  • Peter H. von Bitter

Summary, in English

The Wenlock (middle Silurian) Eramosa Lagerstatte of the Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada, is becoming known for its rich and diverse faunas, different preservational styles, and a combination of soft-body preservation associated with shelly body and trace fossils. Sampling for scolecodonts-the jaws of polychaete annelids-has yielded unique material. Hindenites parkheadensis new species is described from abundant specimens, including apparatuses, from a monospecific fauna that has allowed the complete dorsal maxillary apparatus to be reconstructed. The new species was recovered by acid digestion of carbonates, which are interpreted as having been deposited in shallow, marginally marine environments; the species may become a useful paleoenvironmental indicator, and the occurrence of Hindenites at Park Head, Ontario, is the first record of the genus outside of Baltoscandia. Bedding-plane material from Wiarton, Ontario, reveals a more diverse fauna of seven to nine additional polychaete taxa, most belonging to Kettnerites and Oenonites. Strata at Wiarton are interpreted as having been deposited in environments with good water circulation and open-marine conditions. The faunal composition of Eramosa polychaetes varied between localities of the Lagerstatte outcrop belt, supporting previous interpretations of differences in environment and/or taphonomic history. The relative abundance of scolecodonts suggests that jaw-bearing polychaetes played a significant role in the biotas that are now preserved in the Eramosa Lagerstatte. Moreover, the results underpin the notion that different polychaete species had variable environmental preferences and tolerances during the Silurian, and that polychaetaspids and paulinitids formed two of the most common and widely distributed families.

Department/s

  • Lithosphere and Biosphere Science

Publishing year

2015

Language

English

Pages

222-235

Publication/Series

Journal of Paleontology

Volume

89

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Paleontological Society

Topic

  • Geology

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0022-3360